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What's the story?
The fourth season of the Indian Super League 2017-18 concluded in March with Delhi Dynamos bidding adieu to their head coach Miguel Angel Portugal. What transpired after he parted ways, however, turned out to be a dig at the club management and transfer decisions of the team that brought him to the receiving end of Delhi Dynamos' director Rohan Sharma.
Portugal had said that the team would have performed better had the transfers been dealt with properly, instead of keeping a low budget. In trying to stick to the low budget, the good performance of the team was hampered as per his statements.
In case you didn't know...
Miguel Angel Portugal took over the coaching reins at Delhi Dynamos in 2017. The season was a disappointing one for the club, however, with them finishing 8th in the league. They also faced a premature exit in the Super Cup.
The heart of the matter
Speaking after his exit, Portugal said that the field of play and organisation were the plus points and despite a slow pick up at the beginning, the team did take off well later. Stating that his work at the club was good, what acted as a downside was the meagre budget in the transfer market.
Miguel stated that Delhi Dynamos had signed foreign players based on the low budget, whereas other clubs splurged big to sign the foreign signings. He felt that with a higher budget, one could sign some of the best players which would, in turn, yield better results.
This did not go down well with Delhi Dynamos director Rohan Sharma, who lashed out at the former head coach, citing the 2016 season as an example, when the same team, under a different ownership and management, went on to qualify for the top four spots.
Sharma also questioned the coaching abilities of Portugal, which does not seem to have gone down too well with the club management.
What's next?
With Portugal moving on to Granada CF in the Spanish second division, it will be interesting to see who Delhi Dynamos rope in as their new head coach.
Author's take
The club has shown preference towards grooming talented young Indian footballers in the recently-concluded season. With Portugal gone, they need to continue this approach and keep grooming young players, something that may not yield results immediately but will be beneficial in the long term.
